Congrats Batfink.
These "dueling" ladders reward the pilots who are consistent. To get to the semi-finals, you have to be consistently excellent. Joey and Batfink are both outstanding pilots. I know as I have dueled with both. I expected to see both rise to the top. 
There's no advice I can offer players on this level, except this: My experience is that I always do better if I take 30 minutes and warm up prior to a duel. This gives me better feel for the limits than if I just start cold.
Good luck Bat in the finals.
I think that a warm up should be prior to meeting the opponent, also. Each person should be warmed up and ready to fight by the time they meet.
The reason i say this is that one or both pilots may feel the temptation to 'dumb down' their performance to such a level that the 'warm up' can become little more than a charade in psychology. It is fair to request some warm up time, but I think it is not right to warm up with each other (unless arranged and agreed, obviously.)
Thats just my opinion, though.
And thanks for the good luck wishes and compliment.
S!
